Heading South

Today I spent the day packing my kit, and getting the car loaded up before I head south tomorrow.  I'm planning on having a couple of days catching up with folk down in Bristol, before Donna buses me and Andy down to Cornwall on Thursday.

So careful planning has reduced my kit down to the essentials, but as we are cycling unsupported and camping on route, there's still a lot to take.

On top of this, there will be food supplies, but hopefully, as we will be shopping on a daily basis as we go, for most of the journey we should only be carrying a days worth of food.  There are a couple of stretches in Scotland, further up in the highlands where we may have to plan for a couple of days, as there will be no places to restock as we go.

After I had got everything packed up, I did a swift 25 mile ride.  I took the lighter Marin bike, and headed out to North Queensferry.  I did actually feel strong today.  I'm not sure if it was because the bike is lighter, or because all this training has paid off - the latter I hope, but I did the trip in just over 1.5 hours.  This was my fastest time yet, so my confidence levels are high tonight.

Dad said to me the other day that he had been wondering how many pedal strokes I would be making throughout the trip.  This is obviously dependant on which gear you cycle in, but taking the middle front chainring, and the middle ring on the rear cassette as a rough basis for the gear I may be cycling in, and without boring you with the calculations, the number of pedal strokes will be roughly 420,000.  Hmmmmm - perhaps some nurofen for the knees may be needed !!!!

Cycling advice

In all walks of life, be that for professional purposes or for your own recreational activities, it's always good to seek advice from people more knowledgeable than you. 

I've read blogs, websites, and sought advice from other cyclists - all of which has given me a greater understanding of what I can expect as the trip progresses.

I have to give the biggest thanks for the advice I have received from the great cycling legend that is Norman Macleod - time trialling and long distance speed freak from the Outer Hebrides.

I received a heart felt good luck email message from him tonight passing on his final nuggets of wisdom and motivational advice, which I thought I would repeat here

Don`t force yourself on the first leg,but try to pace yourself, as we all would like to see you fit and well at the end of your trek.

You will probably be a few pounds lighter, but that would not do you any harm!!!

So please get ANDY to take your photo at LANDS END,and again at JOHN O`GROATS so we can see your " BEFORE AND AFTER "

So yes - as you can see, and reading a little between the lines, cycling legend Norman is wishing me well, but is implying I am overweight and in need of losing weight, and wants photographic evidence to see my weight loss.

So I would like to thank Norman (who is incidentally my father in-law) for all his support.  I will certainly be enjoying a few full caloried ales with the kind donation he has made to our beer fund - Cheers Norm !!!

Incidentally - more donations from anyone else to our beer fund are always welcome :o)

Isn’t the sunny weather beautiful – or is it?

The sun was still beaming down as I left work, today, so I thought a slightly longer ride home was needed before the weather is set to change later in the week.  I headed out to Crammond along the waterfront for a quick 10 mile leg stretcher.

A large number of folk also had the same thoughts, enjoying the outdoors whilst the weather is good.  Children flying kites, dog walkers, cyclists, joggers, pram pushers, frisbee throwers, mini football games – all very pleasant and nice to see.

Then came the less glamorous side to the sunny conditions.  Crop tops and muffin tops.  PUT A JUMPER ON LOVE !!!!!  And then the skinny youths with their shirts off – as you emerge from the winter living in Scotland your skin isn’t white, but a pale blue colour !!!!  It burns your eyes as you cycle past.  And then the teenage girls swimming, in the Forth – COME ON – it’s still bloody March. 

Only mad dogs and Englishmen……..or should I say Scotsmen and all that !!!

What a week it’s been though – if only we had set off whilst the weather is so nice – is it too much to ask that it stays fine for another 3 weeks?  There’s talk of snow again in the far North of Scotland later in the week !!!!

Final preparations complete

Despite the weather being great for cycle training this weekend, I'm heading south next week, so I have spent the last couple of days doing all the final preparations rather than out cycling.

All the kit is out, and I've had a practise run at packing it all.  Thankfully, it all fits neatly into the panniers, so my aim of going as light as feasible, whilst still taking everything essential and avoiding taking superfluous items seems to have been successful.

The bike also received a major service today too.  The wheel bearings were fully stripped and re greased, as were the pedal bearings, and a new chain and jockey wheels have tightened up the drive train.

Inbetween all that, Ann and myself had a real good couple of days in the garden, spuds and onions are in, everything tidied, seeds are growing in greenhouse, new shrubs have been planted, and that border that only seems to be growing weeds has been transformed with new plants and bark chips.  Gardening is all the more pleasant when the sun beams down on your back !!!!

4 more days left, so hopefully I can get a few turbo trainer sessions in, or the odd hour out on the road after work, but I'm as ready as I'm going to get - bring on Lands End

summer commeth

The last couple of days here in Edinburgh have been superb, with hardly a cloud in the sky.  I took the opportunity to get out on both days doing a 62 mile ride East yesterday and a 60 mile ride west today.  As I sit here typing this up, my legs do feel pumped up and a little knackered, but I would be happy to jump on the bike again tomorrow. 

When I do these big distances, I do feel constantly hungry though.  Andy has promised me that he is a nutritional guru, and that he'll be ensuring we get the daily calorie intake into us.  I do really hope that it's not all about carbs and protein balancing.  I'm sure I can balance everything with porridge, pies and beer, but I'll let Andy work his magic !!!

So many of the plants are in full bloom now - the Daffodils are out, as are the tulips, cherry blossom, azaleas etc and I've even seen the odd bumble bee making its merry pollen collecting round.
Unfortunately, it also brings the annoying swarms of flies that I inadvertently cycled though today, gulping in a mouthful of them just as a whale shark might do as it patrols the oceans sucking in plankton.  I tried to extradite them from clinging to my tonsils by clearing my throat as a 40 a day smoker might - the woman on the pavement clearly thought that cycling was not doing me much good !!!

Even though the sun was out, there's still a chill in the air, and I've been returning from my rides with a reddish weather beaten face, so I'll really be needing to remember to slap on the moisturiser when we're on the trip - yep - us modern men do moisturise you know !!!

I have a week left before I head down to Bristol prior to the trip, and I still hope to get out for a few more rides, but I have a busy weekend, so may not do any big rides.  Hopefully I've done enough to condition the legs enough for what is to come - only time will tell.

Not long now !!!!

Since I started my training rides back at the beginning of January, I've been keeping a log of the distances I've been cycling.  With only a week and a bit to go til I head south, tonight I wondered how many miles I'd pedalled since starting.  A bit of tapping on the calculator revealed a total of 940 miles.  On top of that, there was half a dozen sessions on the turbo trainer, where the equivalent miles cycled, would have taken me well over 1000 miles.

So there we have it - I've cycled the distance already.  Seems easy when I look back at it now - quite a few tough sessions in there, but also some easier days.  All I need to do it compress that into a couple of weeks.

Andy has bought a new touring bike this week which he'll be using on the trip, so hopefully my old beast of burden won't look too shabby against his.  He was out over the weekend cycling with a good mate of ours Matt Illes, and rode from Warmley over the Severn Bridge to Usk in South Wales, checking out some of the route we will be taking.  Some impressive stats were posted - 4676 ft of climbs, 67 miles averaging 15.1mph and reaching an impressive top speed of 41.6mph.

With stats like that, is there any wonder that I'll be the one in his slip stream and not the other way around !!!!

Isn't it a bit f***ing cold for cycle touring.......

I'd just pitched my tent in the Creag Meagaidh nature reserve and a guy wandered over questioning my timing for cycle touring in Scotland.  Fortunately, I had brought one of my warmer sleeping bags, as the mercury did drop to near freezing during the evening.

This was a big trip for me mentally.  For a while now I've been mulling over my ability to do the distance day after day.  Additionally, there's the issue of carrying a huge amount of kit needed for an unsupported end to end trip.  This was always going to be a burden to swift pedal powered progress.

So my 2 day trip was planned.  I decided to drive north with the bike and all the kit I would be taking on the tour, park up and head up into the highlands for a good hilly 2 day test.  This would be consecutive days, in mountainous terrain and loaded up.  This would really test my mettle.

Here's the bike fully loaded.

The route out of Blair Atholl where I had parked is level at first and then slowly climbs uphill for about 15 miles up and over the Drumocter Pass.  The main road North through the East of Scotland is the A9 and this pass is the highest point of the route, regularly affected by road closures due to snow during the winter.  Fortunately, there in another great national cycle route which runs alongside the A9 to keep cyclists clear of the dangers of the traffic.

The clement weather of late meant that I needn't worry too much about the foreboding nature of the sign warning early season cyclists !!!!

Once over the top of the pass, the route climbs again around the back of Dalwhinnie before descending around to Laggan.  All of the way up, progress was slow but steady, hampered by a headwind, but once over the pass, the wind switched direction to give me a gentle helping hand.

By 4pm I was pitching my tent and getting organised after cycling 50 miles, and I was pleased with the day - a hilly route, fully laden and done in 4.5 hours.

After a huge meal, I was in my sleeping bag and sound asleep by 8:30 !!!!  Going to sleep at this time does however mean that you wake earlier, so by 4:00 am I was already rousing.  I managed to drop off to sleep again for a while, but by 5:30, I was up as the day was dawning, drinking coffee and making porridge.  After more coffee and striking camp, I was on the road again by 7:30 retracing my route back to the car.

The hills out of Laggan and back up onto the plateau proved to be more challenging, being shorter but steeper.  Within an hour though, I'd done the worst of it, and pushing on into Dalwhinnie, I knew it was downhill all the way.  3 hours 15 mins later I was back at the car - it's amazing what 15 miles of downhill can do for your speeds !!!

So whilst there's still a few weeks of training still to go, still some long days in the saddle to be put in, I feel buoyed by the 2 day test run.

As to that leather Brooks saddle -yep - I think things are definitely improving as to comfort.  I'm not convinced it's molding into the contours of my arse though, more like my arse is molding to the shape of the saddle !!!

I spoke to Andy today, and he too is putting in the miles and getting good distances under his belt.  He talked about a great sports massage he had been given and how it had done him the world of good.  I may get a little concerned if I find out he's added a bottle of baby oil to his packing list !!!!

Doing the hard yards

As the alarm went off this morning, I pulled the duvet up over my shoulders and pushed the snooze button.  Ann has been in Germany, so my normal routine of snuggling in for a last cuddle before we get up was not on offer.

The weather front that passed last night was stormier than anticipated, and the wind had been whistling it's merry tune down the chimney for hours.  As I lay enveloped by the comfort of the duvet, I could still hear the wind blowing a gale, and my enthusiasm for another long cycling training day wained.

I had done a big ride on Friday all the way up to Kincardine, which I has repeated again on Monday.  My plan was to get in a descent ride on Wednesday and Friday this week as well.  There's a term used frequently in rugby that you have to 'do the hard yards' in order to win the battle.  It's all about putting in the effort, the grunt, the energy, and only if you do that will you succeed.  So with that lodged in my mind, I donned the cycling gear and headed out to face the storm.

Now which way should I head? - into the wind on the way out, with an obviously easier run back was the option I chose, and so it was out to Kincardine again.  Heading along towards Crammond it became clear that the wind had been even stronger than I thought in the night, with another tree down along the water front.  Later in the journey, a bough of a tree had also blown down blocking the track. 

So as I headed out, the first 30 miles were through gritted teeth as I pounded away, sapping my reserves and really not doing the sort of speeds that the energy expenditure warranted.  But I was getting closer and closer to the turnaround point at the Kincardine Bridge, and the thought of a sudden switch from ridiculous head wind to a speed enhancing tail wind kept me motivated.

Now the route up both the north and south sides of the Forth using the two bridges is a popular cycling route and is actually one of the National cycling routes (no 76), so large parts of the journey are on either very quiet roads, or purpose built cycle paths.  When I crossed the bridge however, I forgot all about the quiet cycling route and largely stuck to the main road, as when I got up to speed, I didn't want to slow up for the inevitable pedestrians and dog walkers on the track.  I hit top gear and largely stayed there all the way home apart from the odd hill to climb. 

I'm now hoping for a super strong tail wind for the whole of the journey, which on today's performance on the return leg, would mean we could complete the trip in about 4 days !!!!  Well you can hope eh !!

After this week, I've only got 3 more weeks left to train before I head south to start the tour.  I still have concerns about doing big distances every day for 2 weeks, and hopefully I can do a number of consecutive cycling days in the coming weeks to start getting used to it, but I do feel I'm getting there.  It's etched on my mind now - DO THE HARD YARDS

Amazing !!!!!

Amazing - that's how I am feeling about the level of sponsorship money that has been coming in for the Parkinson's Charity.  As at this morning, a total of £360 has been donated which both Andy and myself are really over the moon about.  It makes all these training rides all the more worthwhile.

I spoke to my dad and Carol this morning, they were giving me an update on their fund raising activities.  It turned out that they have resorted to hostage tactics.  By all accounts they were at the Parkinson's support group in Bristol yesterday, and before letting anyone leave, Dad was handing out details of this blog for people to read.  Reports have been received that some people attempted to leave by an alternative door only to be thwarted by Carol sprinting over to cut them off at the pass !!!! So fast was she, that Britains olympic gold medal prospects have improved !!

So, if you're one of those people who are now randomly reading this blog after being given details of it by Dad and Carol, welcome, and hopefully our tales along with some photos of our trip will keep you amused.

About Time !!!!

I finally managed to get out on the bike today for the first time in 2 weeks - I really can't believe it was that long and that I'd only done an hour on the indoor trainer in between - and that was 10 day ago!!!!

I do have a sort of excuse, in that I had been ill last week with a hemorrhagic fever akin to Ebola.  Well OK it was man flu, but it did knock the energy out of me.  And then, Ann and myself were off to Glencoe for 4 days and the rest of the time I have been working, so this was the first opportunity to get out.

When I set off, a heavy dew still encrusted the lawn, and whilst there was still a little chill in the air, it was probably the warmest day so far that I had been out on the bike.  The sun was out and I felt good.  As soon as I dropped down onto the waterfront, I could see the Haar running up the length of the Forth.  For all you southerners unfamiliar with the term Haar, it's what the Scots call the sea fog that hangs like a thick blanket around the coast, and prior to moving up here, is something I'd never seen before.  Here's a few shots along the coast and over the Forth road bridge.

So my route plan for today was a big ride, from home here on the north shore of Edinburgh, out to South Queensferry, over the Bridge, past Rosyth and follow the Forth up to the Kincardine Bridge, cross back over the Forth and head back home through Grangemouth and Boness.  So all in all today, a satisfying 57 miles. 

As I sit here now - I do feel a little weary, and even though I was taking it a little easier today, the cycling time was about 4 and a half hours, which engenders a little more confidence that when doing the daily distances, it will be only about another hour in the saddle.

Speaking of saddles, I have just remembered that I hadn't previously posted about the new leather Brooks saddle that I bought for the bike.  My old saddle had been really great and comfortable for many years, but ever since a minor escapade when I fell off the bike in the ice, and the saddle popped off the rails, it's never been the same.  In choosing a replacement, I sought advice from the websites of the long distance tourers out there.  It seems that by far and away the favourite was the Brooks B17 leather saddle.  The advice came with the caveat, that they need to be broken in before the leather molds itself to the contours of your arse.  I guess I've only done a couple of hundred miles on the saddle so far, but I can report that so far, the saddle and my arse are still different shapes and comfort factor is still very low !!!!!  I am really hoping things improve before starting the tour.  Either that, or I hope Andy is brushing up on his massage technique ;o)